In photo: Burn Belacho, Mike Constantino, and Twinky Lagdameo
Mike Constantino, Founder and Managing Director of Homonym,Twinky Lagdameo of Elements Music Camp and Burn Belacho, Posporos’ official ambassador are taking Filipino music to the global stage as they represent the Philippines to the BIME Pro in Bilbao Spain on October 24 to 26. Made possible with the help of NCCA (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) and the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines’ Posporos music exchange program, the power team is set to talk about Music, Connectivity and Technology in the Philippines.
Constantino, dubbed as “The Music Guy of the Philippines”, says that the “Goal is to show them that global industries like licensing, publishing, synchronization – big and/or growing music business earners – are already in the Philippines. There’s a wealth of music that they can look into that can work for European markets since a lot of our music is very Westernized.”
BIME Pro is a gathering which connects music, new tech, entrepreneurship and innovation, serving as get-together point for generating new revenue opportunities in an international perspective. It’s the meeting point for the Spanish music industry, and builds bridges to other countries. 2,000 professionals are in attendance, representing 1,260 companies, and engaging in +600 meetings.
Being a colony of Spain for more than 300 years, music in the Philippines is laced with Spanish influence. But at BIME Pro, its evolution from pre-colonial times will be discussed, vis-a-vis the technological development in the music industry. Along with technology is social media, and the Filipinos’ penchant for it, the Philippines being the second highest ranking country in Southeast Asia and the sixth in Asia in terms of Internet users. Constantino says, they will highlight the intersection of music and the web in the Philippines as it connects to the world, “Goal is to show them that we are very open to anything – we are the best test market in Southeast Asia because of our various influences, our very musically-talented people, our fluency in English, our young demographic, our thriving scene (both commercial and independent/underground) and our being the social media capital of the world.”
An award-winning singer/songwriter himself, Mike put up the first and only music supervision company in the Philippines, Homonym, in 2016. “As the first and only music supervisors in this market (working with brands like Coca-cola, Globe, Cebu Pacific, AWI, McDonald’s) for the past 3 years, we’ve learned that our contribution to a brand, service or campaign is not just limited to curating/producing/licensing the perfect song – we have become a strategic partner in completing the experience that the project wants to deliver to the target audience.”
Also a worthy representative, Twinky Lagdameo, is the Chief Marketing Officer of Billboard Music Phils. (BillboardPH). She brings to the table over 15 years of experience in marketing, brand building, creative strategy, entertainment, music and media. In 2010, she founded the Elements Music Camp, which is the music masterclass for Filipino singer-songwriters.
Completing the trio is Burn Belacho, a professional musician, lead guitarist and cultural worker. He is part of Talahib People’s Musicm a world music rock band. He is also a brand ambassador and product endorser, mostly of guitar brands.
With this power trio present at BIME Pro, Constantino is optimistic, open opportunities for collaborations will open. He shares, “Much like my personal advocacy of pushing our music and artists out to world, our delegation’s goal is to open up collaborations for Spanish (and perhaps, European) artists so we can learn from each other and make amazing music together, while at the same time finding potential partnerships that can push the industry forward.”
